Today Johnny Cash exists in our imagination largely as the young hellion of the 1950s and ’60s, or the grave and wise voice offered on his final American recordings. These recently unearthed tapes — very simply, Johnny Cash accompanying himself at his home studio on guitar — serve as a timely reminder that he was a vital, probing, challenging artist through all his days, and as good a singer as he was a stylist.
He was 41 when these sessions began on July 11, 1973. His sessionography lists a guitar/vocals recording of the hoary “Old Shep” that day, and it may be the exercise stirred up old memories, for he also cut a half-dozen of the tracks here. Indeed, the bulk of Personal File was recorded that summer, though the process continued off and on into the early 1980s.
Cash had only one big hit in the ’70s (“One Piece At A Time”) and none under his own name in the ’80s (he didn’t count the Highwaymen). Probably the tapes found marked “Personal File” were intended for an album he failed to interest Columbia in releasing; possibly they were simply his private outlet to various moods, or, even, an extension of his impulse as a folklorist.
Producer Greg Geller (lucky fellow, it’s his job to sort through the enormous archives from Cash’s home studio) has arranged these songs thematically, running from 19th-century weepers such as “The Engineer’s Dying Child” to John Prine’s “Paradise”, a spurt of Johnny Horton songs segueing to new Cash originals such as “Tiger Whitehead”. The second disc offers a range of spiritual songs, new and old.
Again, Cash’s purpose is unclear. He cut “Tiger Whitehead” on July 20, 1973, and also four days later at a formal session with the Carter Family backing. Some songs come with a spoken introduction placing them in the context of his life (and there’s even a reading of Robert Service’s classic “The Cremation Of Sam McGee”).
What’s most striking, regardless of Cash’s intent, is the calm and peace resplendent in his voice. Its strength. And its rich, easy beauty. Cash’s considerable legacy will be plundered and repackaged and resold as often as possible, and that tends to make one wary of new trinkets. Not this time. These are among the half-dozen Cash recordings most worth treasuring.